The result came three months after the first such procedure was performed and paved the way for the use of non-human organs in patients who need life-saving transplants. For clarity, both surgeries performed thus far were of an experimental nature, with people not actually expected to live with pig kidneys.
The first was implanted into a brain-dead woman whose family gave doctors permission to perform the surgery shortly before her life support system shut down. Now the same group of surgeons repeated the trick on a newly deceased person who was put on a ventilator.
Animal-to-human transplantation, known as xenotransplantation, is considered by scientists as a potential solution to the current shortage of donor organs. Unfortunately, many people die while waiting for a transplant simply because there are not enough organs, but at the same time, being able to use animal-derived organs instead of waiting for a human donor can save countless lives.
Similar to their first experience, the surgeons reported this Not only was the member taken out by the recipient, but it also seemed to be working fine. Waste products such as creatinine were filtered through the kidneys at an appropriate rate, and urine production was in line with normal human kidneys.
